Turkish baths in fiction:

notes on some of the baths that are imaginary,
and on some of the ones that are
real

The morning gift

Eva Ibbotson's novel
The Morning gift is especially interesting because it appears to describe part of an
important London Turkish bath which was stated to have been completely
demolished. This is the one at number 23 Leicester Square, one of those
owned—though in this case not started by—Charles Bartholomew, an
early member of the Bristol Foreign Affairs Committee. According
to Peter Jackson,

…in 1936 [the Alhambra in Leicester Square] was completely demolished, together with the house adjoining on the north, and replaced by the present Odeon Cinema.3

But this information came from Volume 34 of the London Survey, which states that, 'The site was later incorporated into the Odeon.'4 However, this seems unlikely. It would be natural for the cinema to be built on the site of the Alhambra, especially since the site, with rear access extensible to Charing Cross Road, would be large enough for all possible requirements without the need to spend additional funds on the purchase of a relatively small additional area. Possibly a re-numbering has confused the authors. A look at the exterior of the present-day No.22 shows remarkable similarities to photographs of No.23 as it was re-built after the 1882 fire.

And additional support for this view is found in a passage in Morning gift where the author describes a meeting which took place around 1938:

In trying to think of a place where they would meet no one of his acquaintance, Quin had hit on The Tea Pavilion in Leicester Square...He had not, however, expected to score such a hit with Ruth who looked with delight at the Turkish Bath mosaics, the potted palms and black-skirted waitresses, obviously convinced that she was at the nerve centre of British social life.

This seems to indicate that there may still be partial remains in a
currently inaccessible space. Research is still in progress, and it is hoped
that it may be possible to investigate the site further.